You better enjoy this..

as of  about 7:25 PM Tonight, the Houston Aeros are in First Place in the West!

Considering that recently they need the first period of game to 'warm up',
raise SOGs during the second period,  they, finally, are fully present and accounted for in the Third. Quite a progression! Hail The 3. Period Aeros!
Of course, I am kidding, but a speck of truth seems to be there after all.
But  - Consider tonight's game.
Better Half and I missed 2/3 of the First period, since we could not tear ourselves away (as originally planed) from the very amusing (and still oh, so buusssyyyy-see earlier post), Barber of Seville at HGO!
But while hurrying to the Game, we heard the Voice of the Aeros announce with minutes to go, the game is scoreless.
Well, we did NOT miss anything, other than watching speedy Griffins and a busy Endras stopping all 16 pucks.

Aeros Goal 1

During the 2. period - despite an earlier 8 SOGs, Aeros revved up their play with 11 SOGs one of which became the First Goal for the team by Fontaine (Wellman and DiSalvatore). That gave Fontaine his 2. goal for the season, which should please the youngster who turns 23 on November 6 during the Marlies game at the TC.
But...the Griffins made it 1:1 just 2 minutes later (BTW the ONLY one Endras allowed in)
with a goal by Nestrasil and Tatar.

Nestrasil tries again...stopped by Endras and aeros Defense

Then comes Period 3. in which the heat is on!
Aeros shooting 15 on Pearce and getting 2 into the net (Foucault's FIRST of the season) with Ortmeyer - kinda nice: the youngest player (turning 21 in December) gets a helper by the  oldest player-not that Ortmeyer is thaat old (but at 33...kinda oldish :-) for a  hockey player).

And the 3. goal by McIntyre (now that trade seems to have worked FOR the Aeros) with Fontaine and Broda.

Fontaine interferes with Pearce?

At the close it became a nail biter, Fontaine sits for goalie interference (see photo above), while Pearce gets pulled for a 6th  attacker vs 3 then 4 Aeros.

Traffice Jam at Endras Net

Save by Endras-even though it does not look like it!

And this is where Endras earns his salary ( lol )...and the Aeros defense is truly effective, as well!
Endresult:
Aeros win 3-1 over Griffins!

we want  Bullshirts - yeah!

At home - after a long weekend of back to games- in front of about 5,000 who all seemed to cluster in sections 106 - 107, Lol!

Rotkappchen Hackett :-)!

While the opposing sections were sparsely occupied!

But by died-in-the-wool Aeros fans.


And a bench sitting Hackett (red cap).. wonder how that felt
Yes, well...
the Griffins had speed and power, but faded from a heavy bombardment of Endras (16) to a mild one (6) in the third despite the extra attacker and ONLY 3 Aeros on Defense - for a time.
The Aeros, on the other hand did the reverse...tentative (8) in the 1. 
Better (11) in the 2nd and full speed ahead (15) in the Third for "The 3. Period Aeros"!

I noticed that Kyle Medvec,
on his first game  on ice, walked out limping favoring one leg over the other!
Hope it is only temporary.

On the other hand Cuma showed his mettle, as did DiSalvatore (we almost expect his flying moves) and Wellman (seems to be in the middle of a lot of in-front-of-the-net action).

Jamie Koharski called only a few penalties- which sure is the reason that the game seemed so fast and furious! Of  the 4 PPs for The Griffins and the 3 for Houston, none resulted in a goal.
Both team's penalty killing was adequate.